Bryce Harper is the NL MVP front-runner, but who else is on the bubble?AP

Bryce Harper probably offers NL MVP voters an easy choice. He has been the best player operating on a contender, even if the Nationals ultimately fail to make the playoffs.

But how you filling out the rest of your ballot (full disclosure, I am not a voter for this category this year) will say a lot about whether you believe putting up great numbers for a contending team – as players such as the Pirates’ Andrew McCutchen, the Giants’ Brandon Crawford and Buster Posey, and the Cubs’ Anthony Rizzo are doing – is more worthy than excelling for non-contenders, i.e. Colorado’s Nolan Arenado, Arizona’s Paul Goldschmidt and A.J. Pollock, and Cincinnati’s Joey Votto.

Reds first baseman Joey VottoGetty Images

Votto, in particular, is fascinating. He was a very good player in the first half with a .277 average, .392 on-base percentage, .484 slugging percentage and an .876 OPS. But in the second half, he has put up numbers that the best player in Little League with an aluminum bat wouldn’t approach: .397/.575/.718/1.293. We are talking about getting on base close to 60 percent of the time.

But he is doing this within the context of utter non-contention – the Reds went from a bad team in the first half (.453 winning percentage) to horrendous (.360). Obviously, Votto is not a reason Cincy is bad. But because the Reds are bad, Votto has not taken anything approaching a real meaningful, pressurized at-bat. Will that be held against him?